Blood Sugar Monitoring:The first and most common way to test your blood sugar is using a glucose monitoring device with a disposable test strip. With this method you prick your finger with a lancet and get a small drop of blood to put on the test strip. You then get what is called a “quantitative” measurement of how much sugar is in your blood. The next option is continuous glucose monitoring. Critical levels of blood sugar are anything below 80 mg/dL and 400 mg/dL anything between this is okay. if you have trouble getting it below 200 you should consult your doctor.

Blood Sugar maintenance:Your doctor will also give you instructions for maintaining your glucose levels based on the therapy he/she prescribed. One of the main types of therapy used is basal bolus insulin. Which is insulin injected before meals to maintain blood sugar. The next could be a long acting insulin such as Levemir; which can last up to 24 hours, an intermediate acting insulin such as Humulin; which can last 12-14 hours, or quick acting regular insulin.

How it all comes together:How this works in conjunction with one another is that based on your therapy regimen. Depending upon how your glucose levels read once measured by your meter; that determines how much medication you will take to maintain your blood sugar levels. In terms of basal injections, a blood sugar of 120-140 before meals it requires 2 units of insulin; 141-160 can require up to 4 units and so on.